I have already written about the 5 men that were bound and killed in South Africa. There is an uproar over the fact that many feel that the police are not taking the cases seriously because the murdered men are homosexuals.  (Great article here by David Lohr.) I hope that they are wrong but they might be right.

“Cases of this nature are not taken seriously by the police or the justice department,” he said.

“It is our firm belief that the Department of Constitutional Development and Justice has to come to the party in ensuring that the plight of LGBT (and intersexed) people (receive the necessary attention and investigation),” he added.

All four victims mentioned in The Star’s report on Monday were killed in the past 10 months. They were tied up and strangled inside private homes within the greater Joburg area.

Police reported no signs of forced entry and believe these killings may be the work of a serial killer or a homophobic gang.

The lack of break-ins may mean the victims knew their would-be killers and could have invited them in.

The victim who has come to light after the previous report in The Star is Manolis Veloudos. He was found in his home in Greenside in April last year.

He was bound and murdered, seemingly by someone he had invited into his home. Again, there was no sign of forced entry onto the property, and very little was stolen.

More Here

South African serial killer / rapist Sello Phalane will be heading to court this week. He is charged with 5 counts of rape, murder and robbery.

“The man allegedly raped, robbed and killed five women between 2008 and 2009 around the Dennilton area,” Lt-Col Mohale Ramatseba said on Friday.

He was arrested at Diskom taxi rank in Zebediela in September 2009, while selling CDs, Ramatseba said.

Eva Lekalakala, 41, was the first of his alleged victims and was killed in June 2008. Her remains were found at Spitpunt, in Dennilton. She was later identified through DNA tests, said Ramatseba.

Josephine Manamela, 38, was killed in August 2008 and her decomposed body was found at Ga Maria village between Vall Bank and Dennilton.

In February of 2009, the naked body of an unknown woman, around 30, was found in the bushes at Driefontein in Dennilton.

The remains of Margaret Seretlo, 41, were found at Driefontein in Dennilton in July 2009, as were those of Elizabeth Kobe, 36.

The trial is set down from Monday until Friday.

Phalane was not granted bail and remains in police custody.

From Here

The last article that I am going to make you aware of is also out of South Africa and deals with the worst kind of monster.  There is one suspect linked to 21 child rapes and one child who was murdered.

Police believe that a series of child rapes, which occurred over 16 months, was the work of a single suspect.

But it was only after the Khayelitsha community rallied that police were able to track a suspect to an informal settlement in Philippi.

A 25-year-old man was arrested and initially charged with the failed abduction of a six-year-old girl, but police say investigations have linked the suspect to a string of other cases.

He has now been charged with 22 counts of abduction, 21 of rape and one murder, all involving girls aged between two and nine.

Police are investigating whether the suspect was involved in more crimes. 

How can anyone find a child ‘sexually arousing’? At 2 years of age? This is so beyond my understanding that I do not even try to make any sense of it.

It is alleged that the suspect conducted a 16-month reign of terror in the area around Monwabisi Park, Harare and Lingelethu West in Khayelitsha, but it was only after a four-year-old girl was murdered and a six-year-old girl managed to escape after allegedly being abducted that residents and police realised they had a serial rapist on their hands.

Provincial police commissioner Lieutenant-General Arno Lamoer said police were continuing to investigate, scanning reported cases to find out whether the suspect was involved.

On September 12, Aviwe Speelman was playing with her two-year-old brother in the yard of her parents’ home in Endlovini. Her parents were inside at the time.

After 20 minutes they realised Aviwe was gone and were told by her tearful brother that a man had taken his sister to the shop to buy chips, but he had been ordered to stay behind.

Her family, neighbours and police searched through the night for the little girl. The next day residents brought their dogs to join the search and later that day dogs sniffing in the bushes that border Monwabisi Park found Aviwe’s body.

Police Warrant Officer November Filander said Aviwe had been raped and strangled.

Her body had been covered with twigs and leaves, and her clothing lay next to her, Mbuwako said.

Just days later, the six-year-old disappeared.

Mbuwako said that at 4pm that day, the girl was seen with a man. She was holding chips. When residents chased the pair, the man let go of the girl’s hand and fled.

Mbuwako said that after this incident, residents had held a meeting during which some said they knew the man.

Residents had speculated that the man could be responsible for a spate of rapes in Harare and Lingelethu West.

He said there had been many rapes in those areas, but residentshad no way of knowing whether the same person was involved.

Three girls had been raped in one week, he said.

Police had been investigating the six-year-old’s abduction and this had led them to an informal settlement in Philippi, Filander said.

A man was arrested on the night of September 20 and initially charged only with the girl’s abduction.

At the time, police said the abduction and Aviwe’s death were unrelated.

When the man was arrested, forensic evidence had not yet been finalised, Lamoer said.

“Last week, thanks to forensic evidence, we started putting the picture together,” he added.

DNA evidence had linked one suspect to both crimes, along with 20 other abductions and rapes.

It was clear from the sheer number of rapes that police were dealing with a serial rapist, Lamoer said.

The crimes for which the man has been charged date from April last year to last month. All the victims were girls aged between two and nine, he said.

“We will continue investigations and see if other reported cases can be linked,” said the commissioner.

With Aviwe being raped and murdered by strangulation I am guessing that the killer was ‘advancing’, escalating in his desires. Rape was not enough anymore, even if it was the rape of a small child. He needed more to be fulfilled. I would be willing to bet that there would have been many more little girls raped and murdered after poor Aviwe.

The suspect appeared in the Khayelitsha Magistrate’s Court on Friday. The case was postponed to November 1.

Dey said residents in areas like Khayelitsha took crimes against children very seriously and authorities often had to step in to calm angry residents down.

When children were raped in Khayelitsha, some residents threatened to take matters into their own hands, Dey said, because these crimes were “not an accepted thing”.

Full article

There are all kinds of mythical monsters said to be living in South Africa but it is the real monsters that horrify me.